Greater Manchester Franchising

[Mrboo]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
Lots of the issues in Manchester city centre is Manchester City Council. with there total anti traffic in city centre. They dont want cars and even buses in the centre of town. it started with the remodel of Piccadilly gardens was it them or GMPTE who wanted bus stands with a limit of few mins at the stop and to not classed it as a Bus Station or was the GMPTE. They also now want North side to be bus free now with buses moved to a new site to tie with with HS2.

[SF07]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
The recent proposals from Manchester City Council for Piccadilly Gardens would see a reduced "bus station" area on the Parker Street stops (I think it would take out stands G, H, J and K and cut off the entry into the station from Mosley Street), which would mean some services pushed out (perhaps sending the Salford services to Shudehill).

Meanwhile, the Oldham Street loop would be pedestrianised. With that and a separate plan to permanently pedestrianise the Stevenson Square area, this would probably mean buses are re-routed down Newton Street and either become a cross-city service down Portland Street or having to terminate at a different location, such as Piccadilly station or Chorlton Street.

Back in 2007, when the Transport Innovation Fund/Congestion Charge proposals were around, Manchester City Council talked about changes to buses and coaches in the city centre. The idea was moving coaches to a new station around Mayfield and buses moving into a new station at Chorlton Street, along with another new interchange at Salford Central (probably not possible now with the amount of building work that has gone on in recent years) in addition to Shudehill Interchange.

In terms of terminating services, they suggested:

• Chorlton Street: Services from Hyde Road (200s), Stockport Road (192), Ashton Old Road (219-221), Princess Road (101/103) and Oxford Road (42/43 etc).
• Salford Central: Services from Chapel Street (34/36/37/38/67/100), Blackfriars Road (10/93/97/98), Regent Road (33) and Chester Road (255/256/X50).
• Shudehill Interchange: Services from Chapel Street (34/36/37/38/67/100), Great Ducie Street (59/96/X41/X43), Cheetham Hill Road (135), Rochdale Road (17/18/81/112/118/163 etc) and Pollard Street (216/230/231 - running via Church Street/Dale Street).
  

Oldham Road services (74/76/76A/83/84/181/182/X84) were suggested to stay at Oldham Street/Piccadilly/Lever Street but with the intention of moving into Shudehill or Chorlton Street. An enhanced Metroshuttle (now Free Bus) network would probably have been put in place, although there wasn't any details back then.

A smaller Parker Street/Piccadilly Gardens station was recommended to be used by the 8 to Bolton, along with some services from East Didsbury. Additional services would run from Christie Hospital to Salford Crescent via the city centre and also mentioned what has become Vantage (albeit to Atherton instead of Wigan).

There was also suggestions of some other cross-city centre routes:

• Stockport to Pendleton or Swinton (192 route into Manchester then down Portland Street and out of Manchester like 36/37/38 route).
• Parrs Wood to Eccles or Prestwich (Eccles route is essentially what the 50 route has become, but to MediaCityUK instead. Prestwich route possibly the 42 route and proposed to run along Deansgate, which probably wouldn't be possible now).
• Middleton to Chorlton (possibly 18 and then a re-routed 85 route via MRI)
• Ashton-under-Lyne to Stretford (219 to Piccadilly then down Portland Street and out of Manchester as the 263 route - probably would then feed into Metrolink at Stretford for connections to Altrincham)
  

The map is a little confusing as the Swinton terminus might actually be the Vantage park & ride site on the East Lancs Road and is applied to the Parrs Wood route not the Stockport route.

https://web.archive.org/web/200805111832...ion_v3.pdf

[Mrboo]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
And none of it will help Manchester as Manchester needs 1 bus Station that is close to shopping areas as now there little parking for cars so shoppers will stop using Manchester. There some who think Metrolink and a free city bus will sort it. But it that was case how come did we get Metrolink when we had the centreline bus what they are trying to do is remove buses but not offer free Metrolink travel in city centre.

[Barney]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising

(12/04/2021 21:54)Mrboo Wrote:  And none of it will help Manchester as Manchester needs 1 bus Station that is close to shopping areas as now there little parking for cars so shoppers will stop using Manchester. There some who think Metrolink and a free city bus will sort it. But it that was case how come did we get Metrolink when we had the centreline bus what they are trying to do is remove buses but not offer free Metrolink travel in city centre.

A relative of mine who drives for Arriva in Liverpool told me yesterday that the number of bus stands is totally inadequate and that it is only a matter of time before a fatal accident occurs as a direct result of the new road layouts.

Until the pandemic, I visited Manchester city centre regularly and note that, currently, it does have the luxury of an extensive Metrolink tram network and the free Metroshuttle bus services linking the Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
Fortunately, Andy Burnham will have the benefit of being able to see what's happening in Liverpool city centre re bus routeing, road closures and the location of bus hubs and hopefully avoid making the same mistakes in Manchester city centre.

[Barney]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
Now that Andy Burhham has been re-elected as mayor of Greater Manchester he seems determined to see that bus franchising is completed before the next mayoral elections in 2024. Good luck to him but I strongly suspect that he and his family will have moved back down south well before by then.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ma...r-57056702

[EDB325]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
It has been reported in today's "Manchester Weekly News" that Mr.Burnham also plans to have all buses turned out in a yellow and black livery to reflect "The Manchester Bee". I suppose it saves repainting the trams, but reading the Bustimes map will be quite tricky if everything is yellow ! Does this mean the end of all-over advertising ? I'm not at all in favour of this idea.

[David Verity]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising

(12/05/2021 15:03)EDB325 Wrote:  It has been reported in today's "Manchester Weekly News" that Mr.Burnham also plans to have all buses turned out in a yellow and black livery to reflect "The Manchester Bee". I suppose it saves repainting the trams, but reading the Bustimes map will be quite tricky if everything is yellow ! Does this mean the end of all-over advertising ? I'm not at all in favour of this idea.

Well it hasn't put an end to allover advertising in London. only difference is that TfL trousers the money. As Burnham's plans appear to be seriously financially flawed I expect he'll need all the help he can get.

[Mrboo]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising

(12/05/2021 15:03)EDB325 Wrote:  It has been reported in today's "Manchester Weekly News" that Mr.Burnham also plans to have all buses turned out in a yellow and black livery to reflect "The Manchester Bee". I suppose it saves repainting the trams, but reading the Bustimes map will be quite tricky if everything is yellow ! Does this mean the end of all-over advertising ? I'm not at all in favour of this idea.

TFL dont have London buses on Bus times so they may remove the open bus data. all goes down to does Manchester have same powers to go fully alone with own rule book. or will it be more like Cornwall

[Barney]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising

(12/05/2021 15:03)EDB325 Wrote:  It has been reported in today's "Manchester Weekly News" that Mr.Burnham also plans to have all buses turned out in a yellow and black livery to reflect "The Manchester Bee". I suppose it saves repainting the trams, but reading the Bustimes map will be quite tricky if everything is yellow ! Does this mean the end of all-over advertising ? I'm not at all in favour of this idea.

There are large swathes of GB where one operator has a virtual monopoly. If your biggest concern re franchising is being able to identify operators on Bustimes, there seems little to worry about.

[Olympian2100]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising

(12/05/2021 15:03)EDB325 Wrote:  It has been reported in today's "Manchester Weekly News" that Mr.Burnham also plans to have all buses turned out in a yellow and black livery to reflect "The Manchester Bee". I suppose it saves repainting the trams, but reading the Bustimes map will be quite tricky if everything is yellow ! Does this mean the end of all-over advertising ? I'm not at all in favour of this idea.

Yellow and black are Merseytravel colours and the artists impression of the proposed hydrogen buses are in yellow and black. They seem to be popular colours!